This Week in Classical Music: July 27, 2020.Three Tenors.Only two of our tenors were born this week, Sergei Lemeshev and Mario del Monaco, but the birthday of the third one, Giuseppe Di Stefano, was three days ago.The Russian tenor Sergei Lemeshev is the oldest of the three: he was born on this day in 1902.One of the greatest tenors of the Soviet Union, (along with Ivan Kozlovsky) Lemeshev was born into a peasant family.He went to St.-Petersburg to be a shoemaker, listened to gramophone recordings in his free time and learned the musical basics at a vocational school.In 1920 he was sent to the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied for four years, 1921 through 1925.In 1924 he performed the role of Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin under the direction of the famed Konstantin Stanislavsky.That was to become his most famous (and favorite) role: he performed it more than 500 times.After graduation he performed in provincial theaters; then in 1931 he was invited to the Bolshoi.With Koslovsky, he became one of Bolshoi’s leading singers for more than a quarter century.He sung numerous roles, many in the operas by Tchaikovsky, Rimsky and other Russian composers, but also the roles of Alfred in La Traviata, Gounod’s Faust, the Duke in Rigoletto and Rodolfo in La Boheme.During WWII he contracted pneumonia and then tuberculosis; he was treated but eventually one of his lungs collapsed.He sang with one lung from 1942 to 1948 when the lung was re-inflated.Lemeshev died in Moscow on June 26th of 1977.
Mario del Monaco was born on this day in 1915, Giuseppe Di Stefano – on July 24th of 1921.Both were giants of the Italian opera, and the period in the late 1950s-1960 when both were in their prime – and when Franco Corelli was also at the height of his career – is the golden age of opera, probably never to be repeated.The timber of their voices was different: Di Stefano was a lyric tenor who with time moved to more dramatic roles; it was said that he possessed the most beautiful voice since the time of Beniamino Gigli.He was Pavarotti’s favorite singer.Del Monaco, on the other hand, was a dramatic tenor: his voice was slightly lower than Di Stefano’s but his diapason was large, so he could sing lyric dramatic roles as well: he was great as Radames in Aida and Canio in Pagliacci.Del Monaco had a very exciting voice of enormous power; his most famous role was Otello.Del Monaco’s career was long: he first appeared on stage in 1940 and retired in 1975.Di Stefano, on the other hand, was at the top of his form for just several years in 1950 – but what a voice it was!Here’s Di Stefano in the role of Cavaradossi singing the famous aria E lucevan le stelle from Puccini’s Tosca.This is probably the best Tosca ever recorded: in addition to the phenomenal Di Stefano it featured Maria Callas as Tosca and Titto Gobbi as Scarpia, both at the top of their form.And here’s Mario Del Monaco with the incomparable Renata Tebaldi in the 1952 recording of Gia nella notte densa from Verdi’s Otello.
Three Tenors, 2020
This Week in Classical Music: July 27, 2020. Three Tenors. Only two of our tenors were born this week, Sergei Lemeshev and Mario del Monaco, but the birthday of the third one, Giuseppe
Di Stefano, was three days ago. The Russian tenor Sergei Lemeshev is the oldest of the three: he was born on this day in 1902. One of the greatest tenors of the Soviet Union, (along with Ivan Kozlovsky) Lemeshev was born into a peasant family. He went to St.-Petersburg to be a shoemaker, listened to gramophone recordings in his free time and learned the musical basics at a vocational school. In 1920 he was sent to the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied for four years, 1921 through 1925. In 1924 he performed the role of Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin under the direction of the famed Konstantin Stanislavsky. That was to become his most famous (and favorite) role: he performed it more than 500 times. After graduation he performed in provincial theaters; then in 1931 he was invited to the Bolshoi. With Koslovsky, he became one of Bolshoi’s leading singers for more than a quarter century. He sung numerous roles, many in the operas by Tchaikovsky, Rimsky and other Russian composers, but also the roles of Alfred in La Traviata, Gounod’s Faust, the Duke in Rigoletto and Rodolfo in La Boheme. During WWII he contracted pneumonia and then tuberculosis; he was treated but eventually one of his lungs collapsed. He sang with one lung from 1942 to 1948 when the lung was re-inflated. Lemeshev died in Moscow on June 26th of 1977.
Mario del Monaco was born on this day in 1915, Giuseppe Di Stefano – on July 24th of 1921. Both were giants of the Italian opera, and the period in the late 1950s-1960 when both were in their prime – and when Franco Corelli was also at the height of his career – is the golden age of opera, probably never to be repeated. The timber of their voices was different: Di Stefano was a lyric tenor who with time moved to more dramatic roles; it was said that he possessed the most beautiful voice since the time of Beniamino Gigli. He was Pavarotti’s favorite singer. Del Monaco, on the other hand, was a dramatic tenor: his voice was slightly lower than Di Stefano’s but his diapason was large, so he could sing lyric dramatic roles as well: he was great as Radames in Aida and Canio in Pagliacci. Del Monaco had a very exciting voice of enormous power; his most famous role was Otello. Del Monaco’s career was long: he first appeared on stage in 1940 and retired in 1975. Di Stefano, on the other hand, was at the top of his form for just several years in 1950 – but what a voice it was! Here’s Di Stefano in the role of Cavaradossi singing the famous aria E lucevan le stelle from Puccini’s Tosca. This is probably the best Tosca ever recorded: in addition to the phenomenal Di Stefano it featured Maria Callas as Tosca and Titto Gobbi as Scarpia, both at the top of their form. And here’s Mario Del Monaco with the incomparable Renata Tebaldi in the 1952 recording of Gia nella notte densa from Verdi’s Otello.